Israel Foreign Minister Ashkenazi quits Gantz's Blue and White Party

Israel Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi left Blue and White party on Wednesday. This is the latest high profiledefection from the bloc led by Defence Minister Benny Gantz. The party ran neck-to-neck with Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu's right wing Likud party during three inconclusive elections held between April 2019 and March 2020. The party however has seen dissent ever since Benny Gantz agreed to form coalition government with Netanyahu earlier this year.

Ashkenazi, like Gantz a former army chief, had been Gantz's top ally in the coalition that collapsed last week after failing to pass a budget, amid bitter acrimony between Blue and White and Likud.

New elections have been set for March 23, Israel's fourth vote in just under two years.

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Despite Blue and White's cratering poll numbers, Gantz announced Tuesday that he intended to lead the party in the upcoming vote, vowing to be player in the anti-Netanyahu bloc.
On Wednesday, Ashkenazi tweeted that he did "not intend to contest in the next election with Blue and White."

"I will take a break to consider the path ahead," he said.

Gantz said in a statement that he respected Ashkenazi's decision to leave the party and expressed his "heartfelt gratitude for these past two years of partnership for the good of our country."

A Blue and White spokesperson told AFP that Gantz had not asked Ashkenazi to resign from the foreign ministry.

That marks a departure compared to Gantz's response to the defection of outgoing justice minister Avi Nissenkorn.

Nissenkorn bolted from Blue and White to join a new centrist party formed by veteran Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai, called The Israelis.

Gantz asked Nissenkorn to resign from the justice ministry on Tuesday on grounds that Nissenkorn had "chosen his new political home."
Recent polls indicate Blue and White will win just handful of seats in the March vote.

(With AFP inputs)